Bernard Hammersmith
Bernard Hammersmith (August 3, 3469 - Dec. 20, 3544) was a is a Dranish businessman and politician of the right-wing Rally for the Republic who served as Minister of Internal Affairs and later Minister of Defence. He ran for President in 3517 and 3527, losing both times, first to Sarah Goodwin, then to Sean Yates. Life Hammersmith was born into a middle-class family, his father being a car salesman and his mother a public school teacher. Since his youth, he followed politics, and his preferences shifted to the right over the time, although he latter recalled that he had always disliked the left." He studied management at the Llwybr Hawl School of Economics and Management (LSEM), obtaining a BA (3492) and an MBA (3494) before proceeding to working founding a private equity fund together with some befriended LSEM alumni, which proved highly successful even during the years of left-wing dominance in the late 3490s when greater stock market regulation was discussed. Politics Hammersmith was a member of the RFR since his 18th birthday, primarily due to its neoliberal agenda and support for deregulation. As he had always eyed a business career, he considered the party his "natural political home." Hammersmith appeared in the journals repeatedly in the late 3490s, both for his high-risk stock market investments and his alleged "hedge fund tactics", which was criticized in local media. He responded brusquely, calling his critics "lackeys of those left-wing politicians keen on demonizing success." In 3500, he ran as an RFR candidate for a parliamentary seat, and won narrowly after scrambling to fight off attempts of his leftist opponents to portray him as aloof banker. However, he ran in a wealthy district of Llwybr Hawl where the left traditionally had a bad standing, and thus he won with 50.9%. He spent six years as a backbencher before being appointed as parliamentary leader following the resignation of Thomas Trelawney. Although his primary interest was fiscal policy, he simultaneously became spokesman for internal affairs, and acquired a reputation as a man of law and order. After the 3508 elections, he was poised to become Minister of Finance, but since the RFR did ultimately not obtain that ministry, he became Interior Minister instead. After nine years in office, where he kept a low-key profile, he was chosen as a stand-in for Gwendolyn Hayforth-Breckinridge in the 3517 presidential election. The odds were against him, since the six-party-bloc Alliance of the Left endorsed his rival, Sarah Goodwin, while he was only endorsed by his own party and the refounded Popular Party. Nevertheless, he came surprisingly close to beating Goodwin, losing by just a bit more than one million votes. In his concession speech, he was nevertheless confident of his party's future, saying "we gave the united socialist bloc a competitive race, and in four years' time we'll be back with full pockets and even more firepower to end this Presidency as soon as possible." After some years in opposition, he returned to government in 3523 as Defence Minister. He oversaw an increase in military firepower and turned out to be considerably more hawkish than President John Holbrooke when he openly contemplated implementing sanctions on the communist regime in neighboring Kazulia, as proposed by the opposition. In the 3527 elections, he was again the RFR presidential nominee, but lost spectacularly against Sean Yates in a left-wing landslide. His defeat marked the end of the leadership of the 'Old Guard' in the RFR, and Hammersmith himself left politics after losing to Yates, retiring from Parliament and all party activities. Category:Dranian people Category:RFR politicians